Telespazio UK, a subsidiary of Telespazio - a joint venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%) -, has been awarded a framework contract of 25 million Euros by the European Space Agency (ESA). The company will manage the quality control operations and carry out research and development on cutting-edge calibration and validation techniques for the verification of the large amounts of data generated by ESA's Earth observation missions.
Funded by ESA, the contract sees Telespazio UK leading for the next 5 years a pan-European team made up of industrial and scientific partners, including Serco UK, the National Physical Laboratory and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The service, which will be provided both on site and remotely by ESA's ESRIN headquarters in Frascati (Rome), includes a wide range of satellite missions in the optical, radar, atmospheric and altimetric fields. Between these:
- ESA operational missions such as CryoSat-2, SMOS and Proba-V;
- historical ESA missions such as Envisat (AATSR, ASAR, MERIS, SCIAMACHY, GOMOS, RA-2 / MWR and MIPAS), ERS 1/2 (ATSR-1/2, SAR, RA / MWR, GOME) and GOCE;
- missions on behalf of third parties, in which ESA has agreements with other countries to make data available. These datasets include those generated by Landsat 1-7, SeaWiFS, AVHRR, Nimbus-7, Seasat (USA), ALOS, MOS, JERS (Japan), ODIN (Sweden) and OceanSat-2 (India).
In particular, for this service Telespazio UK has introduced Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the data quality control process, an important evolution necessary to guarantee the high and constant quality of information and to manage a constant volume of data increase.
The service is also characterized by special attention for research and development in the metrology sector, in which the National Physical Laboratory is developing inter-satellite calibration coefficients that can allow the use of data from multiple missions to understand changes in the Earth's system, including signs of climate change.
Marco Folino, Chief Executive Officer of Telespazio UK, said: "We are proud to continue our collaborative relationship with the European Space Agency, and to provide important services capable of guaranteeing high quality Earth observation data to a global user".
Beth Greenaway, Head of Earth Observation and Climate at the UK Space Agency, said: “The UK is investing heavily in ESA's space programs and has the world's leading satellite capabilities in Earth Observation, which are critical to helping us tackle climate change and other major challenges. Telespazio UK's ability to innovate and include AI in the quality control of satellite data shows how this British sector is growing rapidly and is adapting to new technologies, paving the way for their use ".
Philippe Goryl, Head of the Performance Department of Sensors, Products and Algorithms at ESRIN, said: “Data quality is at the heart of our Earth Observation program. ESA is committed to providing high quality data that can be considered as a reference around the world. In this context, Telespazio UK is a key partner we can count on to ensure that ESA data remains at the top of quality standards, but also to develop and apply new and innovative methods that adapt to rapid and demanding evolutions. For this new service, Telespazio UK manages a large team that makes use of the best European capabilities, ensuring the superior quality of Earth observation data for the climate and a growing number of operational applications ".
